[ http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/24/business/24instincts.html ]
I AM the proud owner of a five-year-old cellphone that I've nicknamed Sparky. He's a hulking vintage Samsung, and when I pull him out of my bag, people tend to gawk. "Oh, my God," they'll say. "How old is that?"
Occasionally, because Sparky seems too big to be just a cellphone, some folks mistake him for one of those new phone-palmtop-camcorder gizmos. Then I flip open the dial pad and they realize Sparky doesn't even have a color screen, let alone the capacity to download Minesweeper.
That's fine by me because my mobile buddy does everything I need. He makes calls and answers them. He provides voice mail. And I've never had to replace the battery, which stays charged for up to 24 hours (go Sparky!).
The trouble is that Sparky may be only five (going on six) by my reckoning, but in cellphone years he's getting up there. And I dread the day when I will have to replace him. While it's possible to buy a used phone on Web sites like eBay, I resent the fact that if I want a new one, it seems I will be forced to buy the equivalent of a small production studio, complete with Bluetooth, whatever that is.
I'm not a Luddite, although I can sound like one. I am just weary of the constant pressure to upgrade everything in my life - paying more and more, it seems, for gadgets and services. If you had peered into a crystal ball in 1995 and had seen that in 10 years millions of Americans would be shelling out thousands of dollars a year in subscription fees to live the high-tech life, you would have rolled your eyes and laughed. Yet these days no one blinks at paying for:
¶Mobile phones and their plethora of extras (including my favorite: a ring tone that sounds like - brrring! - an old telephone).
¶Internet and e-mail services.
¶A kazillion cable channels.
¶A service that records programs from those channels so you can watch them whenever you want.
¶Mail-order movie rentals.
¶Music downloads.
It's slow financial strangulation by subscription. Not only do the services cost you, but it's hard to avoid buying new gear that will download faster, sync better or just do more.
Take the brand-new Motorola Rokr phone, a k a the iPod phone. For $250, which is nowhere near the top price in this market, you get text, video and photo messaging, the ability to download games and other applications - and of course you can drag and drop 100 of your favorite iTunes into the phone.
I was tempted by the Rokr, but the feeling faded when I realized I'd be paying for whistles and bells I'd never use. So I called Seth Heine, who keeps an eye on cellphone trends and is the founder of CollectiveGood (collectivegood.com), which recycles old phones like mine to raise money for charity. Did he know of any antique cellphone buffs, similar to vintage car collectors, who were preserving earlier technologies? He sort of choked and laughed. "Not to my knowledge," he admitted.
Fortunately, there is a faint gleam of hope shining across the pond, as it were. The Vodafone Group has released a new cellphone in Europe, called the Vodafone Simply, that could be Sparky's long-lost cousin. It calls and answers; it has voice mail and sends text messages. It doesn't depend on a lot of fussy icons or menus. Instead, when, for example, your battery is charged, the screen reads: BATTERY FULL. Love that.
Although it's been described as a phone aimed at the middle-aged market, Ben Padovan, a Vodafone spokesman, got a little testy when I mentioned that. "It's just as much for the busy housewife who is more interested in keeping in touch with her kids than downloading games," he said. "There are many customers who are looking for a hassle-free, uncomplicated, no-nonsense phone."
Really? It can feel quite lonely out here, but apparently when it comes to not upgrading a phone, persistence pays off. You may not see a Sparky or a Simply (which is available only in Europe) when you walk into the typical razzle-dazzle mobile store, but Verizon Wireless, for one, does "keep a broad portfolio of phones for people with a variety of needs," said Brenda Raney, a spokeswoman. "But it's like looking for a plain white blouse in a department store. You're going to have to ask for it."
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